English

High-Stability Single-Ion Clock with $5.5\times10^{-19}$ Systematic Uncertainty

Atomic Physics 2025-07-16 v2 Quantum Physics

Abstract

We report a single-ion optical atomic clock with fractional frequency uncertainty of 5.5×10195.5\times10^{-19} and fractional frequency stability of 3.5×1016/τ/s3.5 \times10^{-16}/\sqrt{\tau/\mathrm{s}}, based on quantum logic spectroscopy of a single 27^{27}Al+^+ ion. A co-trapped 25^{25}Mg+^+ ion provides sympathetic cooling and quantum logic readout of the 27^{27}Al+^+ 1^1S03_0\leftrightarrow^3P0_0 clock transition. A Rabi probe duration of 1 s, enabled by laser stability transfer from a remote cryogenic silicon cavity across a 3.6 km fiber link, results in a threefold reduction in instability compared to previous 27^{27}Al+^+ clocks. Systematic uncertainties are lower due to an improved ion trap electrical design, which reduces excess micromotion, and a new vacuum system, which reduces collisional shifts. We also perform a direction-sensitive measurement of the ac magnetic field due to the RF ion trap, eliminating systematic uncertainty due to field orientation.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2504.13071,
  title  = {High-Stability Single-Ion Clock with $5.5\times10^{-19}$ Systematic Uncertainty},
  author = {Mason C. Marshall and Daniel A. Rodriguez Castillo and Willa J. Arthur-Dworschack and Alexander Aeppli and Kyungtae Kim and Dahyeon Lee and William Warfield and Joost Hinrichs and Nicholas V. Nardelli and Tara M. Fortier and Jun Ye and David R. Leibrandt and David B. Hume},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.13071},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

5 pages, 4 figures plus supplemental material 5 pages 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T23:02:16.993Z